I now considered that, provided in my passage I
found the medium I had imagined, and provided that it should prove
to be actually and essentially what we denominate atmospheric air,
it could make comparatively little difference at what extreme state of
rarefaction I should discover it- that is to say, in regard to my
power of ascending- for the gas in the balloon would not only be
itself subject to rarefaction partially similar (in proportion to the
occurrence of which, I could suffer an escape of so much as would be
requisite to prevent explosion), but, being what it was, would, at all
events, continue specifically lighter than any compound whatever of
mere nitrogen and oxygen. In the meantime, the force of gravitation
would be constantly diminishing, in proportion to the squares of the
distances, and thus, with a velocity prodigiously accelerating, I
should at length arrive in those distant regions where the force of
the earth's attraction would be superseded by that of the moon. In
accordance with these ideas, I did not think it worth while to
encumber myself with more provisions than would be sufficient for a
period of forty days.
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